Auction fatigue set in at Sotheby's last night on the week's fourth consecutive evening auction.

Big ticket works by masters like Klein, Giacometti and Rothko will go head-to-head, sometimes in the same evening auction.

That price was by far the brightest spot in a successful but often lifeless sale, the third evening auction in a row.

In fact, 80% of the work brought into the leading auction houses is rejected for the evening auctions.

But during the next two weeks of back-to-back evening auctions, newer art is expected to be where hungry buyers will gravitate.

The sale, the first of three consecutive evening auctions, brought $29.6 million, just above its low estimate of $28.4 million, with 46 of the 53 lots selling.

First, Sotheby's overstuffed the sale with too much material, not all of it worthy of an important evening auction.

He lured his titled friends into Sotheby's with glamorous parties and black-tie evening auctions, a twice-yearly practice to this day.

The majority are free and open to the public, with the exception of occasional evening auctions, which require tickets.

After Sotheby's sale on Tuesday night - the first of a two-week round of evening auctions - people were mightily relieved the market was still alive.